Best Left Forgotten
by Daring Dashwood
Summary: Post-OoT. As a last remaining remnant of the dark future attempts to acertain the princess's movtives, he discovers the harsh reality of heartbreak. Implied one-sided parings. One-shot.


Best Left Forgotten

_An Ocarina of Time Fanfic_

_Rating: T_

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"Princess!" he roared, storming the royal castle's foyer, blatantly ignoring the Hylian guards that snapped to attention at his arrival, pointing their spears threateningly. "What, in the name of Din, is the meaning of this?!"

Infuriated, he sped past the guards, slamming open the door to the princess's chambers. Sheikah came at him from all sides, immediately pinning his thrashing form on the plush carpet. Calmly, Zelda rose from the lavish chair she was seated in, and knelt down to the man at an eye level, the latter having ceased his struggles but still retained a heated, smoldering glare.

"Why, Zelda—" A few of the Sheikah hissed at his lack of respect towards the princess, but he paid them no mind. "—why would you do this to me? To the _hero_?" he spat.

The Hylian Princess leveled his glare with a cold contempt in her steel blue eyes. "Because it's for the best," she stated simply, as if it explained all her actions.

"Like _hell_!" he barked, starting to thrash again, yearning to lash at the woman. "You just wanted the hero for yourself, you—"

A hand clamped over his mouth before he could say any more. "Your forgiveness for his rashness, your highness." The voice of Impa—greatly lowered from her normal harsh tone to a humble whisper in the presence of her master—passed through the man's ears. He felt the proud Sheikah bow deeply in a lowly way, and his anger boiled over as the woman that raised him sacrificed her dignity for him. A few fists found their way into his stomach; he would've doubled up in pain if not already restrained.

"It is immaterial, Impa. I will let his…disgraceful comments slide." She turned her gaze back to the restrained man. "Might there be anything else that you would like to say?"

"Oh, there are plenty of things I would like to say," he growled. A few hands tightened on him in warning. "But let's start off with the obvious—why did you do it?"

"As I said, it was for the best."

"Wha—how?! If you hadn't made such a blunder, you never would've been captured, and the hero wouldn't have ended up critically injured, because I would've been there to _help_."

She shook her head, and her tone took on that of one lecturing a small child. "Oh, Sheik," she sighed. "It seems that you cannot fully grasp the situation. Your petty emotions have blinded you to the big picture. It's strange, isn't it? Me giving you, a Sheikah, a tool of the royal family that is supposed to be emotionless, a lecture on controlling your feelings."

Sheik snarled, attempted to launch at her. Someone gave him a good kick in the ribs for that, effectively knocking the wind out of him, giving Zelda the chance to continue on. With the hand marred by the mark of the goddesses, she gently titled his head upwards, so his sanguine eyes could meet her frozen ones again.

"Have you forgotten what you are, Sheik? You are a bodyguard, a mere shadow meant to protect the Royal Family." She leaned over him, her breath just barely ghosting the shell of his ear. "You aren't supposed to exist." Zelda whispered, Sheik's heart skipping a beat in response.

"Wh-what?!" was his meager, breathless reply.

She laughed lightly, humorlessly. "Honestly, did you ever even ponder about this? No one, aside from my family, is aware of the Sheikah tribe's existence. The legend of Link and the Ocarina of Time shall be told; it is only just that it should. Your part in this tale must be hushed up or explained, lest rumors of the fabled Sheikah were to rise again. Yes, you were a necessary aide to the hero, but nothing more."

"But…" he started desperately—_what of all the jokes and tears we shared? The blood that we shed together for the same glorified cause? The glances we passed? You weren't there for them. I saw the hero at his weakest hour; I was there for him when you weren't. Was it all really just a fleeting friendship? Just a lie?_—but the princess abruptly cut him off with a small snort.

Zelda started at him disdainfully. "But _what_? Were you under the ridiculous impression that the hero may have felt _anything_ for _you_? Please, don't make me laugh."

Tears spilled over at the fact that what he'd been trying so hard to deny was true, that the hero didn't love him, that he never would. The princess rose, her point made. As he dissolved in hopeless sobs that racked his frame, Sheik curled into a fetal position; the Sheikah had released him with disgust, figuring that he was no longer a threat.

A servant suddenly appeared at the door, wringing his hands nervously. His awkwardness at intruding at such a time was palpable.

Zelda, unfazed by the man's insecurity, turned to him. "Yes, what is it?"

"Oh, um…the hero, Link, is calling for you, your highness."

"Inform him that I will be there shortly."

"Yes, your highness." With a gracefully bow, the servant scurried off, glad to leave the room.

Sheik's tears had quelled, two trails running down his face the only remnant of his rare emotion. Zelda kneeled, cupping his face. He stilled immediately, her next words sealing his fate.

"Sheik, you are simply best left forgotten."

He crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

Princess Zelda left her discarded tool there, on her way to explain to the recovering hero how she had been disguising herself as a man named Sheik, a false alias.

-fin-

The concept of Sheik and Zelda being two separate entities was an idea I simply could not ignore. Yes, Sheik seems ridiculously emotional, and, dare I say, out of character. But I played on the premise of Sheik hopelessly falling in love with Link, just to have all he's built up crushed by Zelda as she pretends to be him in the temple of time. I would cry too.

Now, were Zelda's actions out of a misguided sense of restoring order, or of jealousy? That, dear reader, is for you to decide.

-bleu-blizzard-


End file.
